In this case, saying what I liked the most about the play is not valid, because it’s so personal that it would be unfair given the thousand virtues that stand out in the most recent premiere of Teatro de las Estaciones. However, if I keep my mouth silenced, I would betrayed myself: I enjoyed a lot meeting the extraordinary actor that is Rubén Darío Salazar on stage, from end to end, in a puppeteer production. It was like travelling back to my childhood with Papalote and my adolescence and youth with Estaciones and finding everything in the same place, just as brilliant.

Now, let's see other views that also invite you not to miss Carnival: not a word, all the attention. An eleven-year-old boy caught his mother's attention about it, as soon as they left the room full: "they didn't even speak mommy, but I understood everything and I also laughed a lot." And yes, the gestures of the four actors on stage, their expressions and sounds not necessarily articulated as words, are enough to follow the plot and understand the story.

The story, as we are, is another chapter, because a difficult love, but with a happy ending, always captivates, if it comes engulfed in that attractive visuality and also dialogue, expressive, full of concepts, guaranteed by the magician Zenén Calero, it’s impossible to avoid the spell.

Four characters spin this fantasy of love, where the greed of the father, Don Pantalón (played by Rubén Darío Salazar), finally succumbs to affection and conspires in favor of the lovers, Colombina and Arlequín (María Laura Germán and Yadier Durán respectively). Thus, the wealthy suitor, Pierrot (Iván García) is frustrated in his attempt to win the young woman's heart. The absolutely sincere performances, the message, essential in these lonely times.

It’s not the first time that the genius of Rubén Darío Salazar turns music into theater, those of us who follow the work of the theater troupe know that it can go from a version of the symphonic story for children opus 67 by Serguei Prokofiev (Pedro and the Wolf) to the themes of the Cuban singer-songwriter William Vivanco (Tale of love in a Baroque neighborhood) or the voice of the soprano Bárbara Llanes (Song to be with you) through Rita Montaner and Bola de Nieve (Por el Monte Carulé).

However, this re-creation of The Carnival of the Animals, a suite of the French composer Camille Saint-Saens and pieces by other European creators, passed through the ears and hands of the musician from Matanzas Raúl Valdés, is not only an exquisite gift for the moderately trained spectator, but also an excellent exercise for the senses.

The discovery, step by step, the constant alert to unravel this or that detail, was what captivated a certain young woman, an elementary level music student: there are Asian elements in the wardrobe... uff, finally the father has come to the senses ... ah, but those masks remind me of the carnival in Venice... This is how she spent for about an hour that ended with deserved applause, seemingly endless, determined to come back.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff